Hell High

Chapter Two

"So how was school today?" My mother first words to me used to be soothing as I would relay how sweet some guy had been to me. Now they were nightmarish as I had just probably lost my two best friends. But how do I tell her that?

"It was...uh...fine, mom." I lied, avoiding her crystal blue eyes. Sure, it wasn't the first lie I'd told her, but it hurt the most. "Just gonna go to my room. Got a lot of homework to do." I faked a smile and looked away from her confused gaze.

In the mirror, I could see her eyebrows knit together. She looked so tired, with bags under her eyes and her blond hair pulled up into a messy bun that could fall out in any minute. She wore an apron that had years of stains from my brother and I. Her makeup was running, as if she had been crying, which is when I noticed the absence of my father.

"Where's dad?" I asked, wincing as soon as I did. Had I no subtlety?

"Work," she said nonchalantly, but I could hear her voice breaking. She was barely keeping it together. "He's going to be staying at a hotel for work. He has some business outside of town." Suddenly, it was her avoiding my eyes. Turns out, her day must've been worse than mine.

"Sorry, mom." I said honestly. I knew their marriage had been unsteady, but I never thought that it would snap like this. Just yesterday had been date night. Wishing I had an excuse to leave the room, I realized the homework I had to get done. "Look, I've gotta read like ten pages of History for homework. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

She smiled at me, as if she was thinking that, for a moment, our roles had swapped and I was the comforting mother and she was the daughter whose boyfriend (or girlfriend) had just broken up with her. "You're really something, you know that?" She asked quietly. "Seventeen years old and yet, no temper tantrums."

"Is that supposed to be a joke?" I asked treading carefully. "Haven't I once yelled at you?"

"Not once."

The words rang around in my head. I was a model kid, I guess. But did that make me tame? Boring? I couldn't tell in the reflection of her teary eyes if she found me so, but people are good at hiding things.

Okay, I thought to myself, staring at the open pages of the textbook that lay on my desk. Time to read. I urged myself to grab the book and start reading, but all the bones in my body resisted the urge. Why I felt so jittery, I didn't know, but I hated the feeling. Was it the fact that twice today I had been betrayed by my so called BFFs? Or was there another cause.

Was it just me? I looked in the mirror at my tousled brown, shoulder length  hair that I had curled that day, then at my pale face with almond shaped green eyes that people tell me remind them of a lawn that had just been cut. I looked the same as I did everyday...yet something was amiss, different. Perhaps it was the abnormal bags that had formed under my eyes, even though I only missed a single hour of sleep. Maybe I curled my hair the wrong way and it had looked hideous all day. Butterflies ate the insides of my stomach, making me feel almost physically sick.

I fell back on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. My eyes darted from crevice to crevice, watching the imperfections with a frown on my face. Everything was supposed to be perfect this year. Dad was going to be less distant with Mom. All of my friends would stay intact...boys wouldn't get in the way of our friendship...

It was like a lightbulb illuminated as soon as that last thought flew through my mind. Of course! Everything went wrong when we met Luke! My hands searched the bedspread around me for my phone and I quickly whipped a text to Kaitlyn, trying to be nonchalant.

Hi Kaitlyn. I texted, biting my lip. Didn't you get Luke's number?

Her response was immediate, and I felt the phone vibrate violently in my hand. Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. She had texted, spelling errors prominent. What's it matter to you?